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temporary relief, Shain realized an extension to the home would have to be built. By the end of 1987, at the advice of Solly Krok, Shain approached steel magnate Paul Nathan, who agreed to sponsor the building of a new hall. The motive for giving this sizable donation is unclear, especially as it appears Nathan had no connection with Orthodox Judaism and was not known for contributing to its causes. It is possible he did so as a sign of his friendship with Krok. In any event, during the building process, Nathan died unexpectedly, leaving a shortfall in the funds required for completing construction. This difference was then
supplemented by fellow steel magnate, and well-known community leader and philanthropist, Mendel Kaplan. The latter insisted his donation not be publicised, and that the future hall be named after Paul and Brenda Nathan exclusively.31 Kaplan did, however, condition some of his donations on Ohr Somayach reciting the Prayer for the State of Israel which was
uncommon for ultra-Orthodox communities. They apparently agreed to this stipulation and by early 1988 the new study hall was completed and immediately used for daily prayers and shiurim, as well as for weekly lectures.32
Equipped with all these facilities, the centre now became an attractive place not only for the youth drawn to Moffson and Shain, but also for many local observant residents. The young rabbis, still in their twenties, wished to concentrate their efforts on kiruv exclusively and felt unqualified to serve as community rabbis for the seasoned congregants who joined the synagogue. To fill this void, they once again contacted Abramov, who this time
dispatched Rabbi Yechezkel Auerbach, a veteran teacher at Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. In February 1988, Auerbach arrived in Johannesburg where he has continued to serve as the community rabbi. Ohr Somayach had now entered a new phase in its rapid growth serving as both a kiruv movement as well as a separate ultra-Orthodox community. Given their friendly relationship with the Chief Rabbinate, they immediately became a constituent member of the successor organization to the Federation of Synagogues, the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (UOS). This was unlike the Adath and the Kollel.
In 1989, Rabbi Dr. Akiva (Kevin) Tatz, who had qualified as a doctor at Wits medical school then studied for many years at the Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Jerusalem, returned to Johannesburg to take over the medical practice of his recently deceased father. Since the Kollel had introduced him to Torah observance, he decided to make his home in the suburb
‘87 Well Attended,” Herald Times, 28 August,1987; “Over 500 Hear Rabbi,” North Eastern Tribune, 8 September 1987.
31 See Mr. Allan Zulberg, interview by author, September, 2019, Johannesburg
32See Shain, interview. According to Shain, the practice of reciting this prayer was eventually stopped.
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of Yeoville where that institution was located.33 Owing to his association with the Ohr Somayach rabbis in Johannesburg, who knew him from Israel, he was invited to lecture at the centre in Glenhazel.34 Aware that Tatz had not only acquired training in traditional Talmudic sources but thanks to his association with Rabbi Moshe Shapiro of Jerusalemwas also au fait with Kabbalistic works, they sensed his teachings might attract some interest.35 After
drawing a few dozen listeners in the first weeks, the shiur rapidly gained popularity. On a typical Monday night, an audience of between 250 to 300 youngsters would pack Ohr Somayach’s halls to listen to Tatz’s expositions on mysticism. The esoteric nature of the shiur, unique in Johannesburg, made it as popular, if not more so, than the shiurim taught in the 1970s by Rabbi Hassan of the Kollel. Interestingly, the latter happened also to be Tatz’s teacher some time before he became a Baal Teshuva. Here apparently the pupil outperformed his mentor. Tatz’s shiur was so appealing that young men would take their dates to these lectures despite only being able to mingle after listening to Tatz for an hour.36
By no means did all who attended the Tatz shiur adopt an Orthodox lifestyle;
however, the shiurim served as a means to attract its listeners to other activities and to other faculty members at the organization. To ensure that the audience did not limit their contact to once a week, Moffson attended the shiur and took careful note of new faces. He would then approach each one, and after taking their details he would follow up with them in the course of the week. Owing to his approachable manner, Moffson often succeEceded in building a relationship with those he would contact. These relationships gained him standing among Jewish students who reciprocated by inviting him to campus and eventually appointing him SAUJS’s official rabbi in 1990.37 In this capacity he arranged shiurim and attended annual national seminars where students from around the country approached him for “informal
33 See Salzer, interview and Ziskind, interview, where they remark that before he embraced an observant lifestyle, Tatz was fairly challenging.
34 This was not the first time Tatz had given lectures to an Ohr Somayach crowd, having occasionally served as guest lecturer when visiting Johannesburg, (see “Student Expo ‘87 Next Week”), but it was the first time he did so on a regular basis.
35 For background information on Tatz’s teacher, Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, and as an example of the esteem with which he was held by the ultra-Orthodox community, see an obituary by one of the official organs of ultra- Orthodox, Hamodia, “Hagaon Harav Moshe Shapira, Zt”l, of Yerushalayim”,
https://hamodia.com/2017/01/07/harav-moshe-shapira-ztl-of-yerushalayim/.
36 See Tatz, interview and Moffson, interview. It is difficult to explain the unparalleled popularity of Tatz’s lectures. In Tatz, interview the lecturer was reluctant to explain his ability to attract such large crowds, proposing merely that the time was ripe to share his teacher’s teachings with a larger crowd. For a less complimentary explanation of Tatz’s popularity see Braude “From the Brotherhood of Man to the World to Come”, 259-289
37 “A Sukkah for the Jewish Students at Wits,” Herald Times, 26 October 1990: 6.
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chats, or deep penetrating questions.”38 Like Hassan, Moffson’s campus position proved a very effective recruitment tool so that many who eventually joined the Ohr Somayach community did so as a result of this contact.